Lok Sabha Elections 2024: No ‘polarising narratives’ in ‘moderate’ Kageri vs ‘outsider’ Nimbalkar contest

Polarising narratives, which had shaped Lok Sabha elections in Uttara Kannada constituency over the past three decades, are conspicuously absent in the current poll campaign.

The moderate Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri has replaced Hindutva hardliner and six-time MP Anantkumar Hegde as the BJP candidate. Kageri, a six-time MLA, had earlier served as the education minister and the Assembly Speaker. The task is cut out for him: Retaining the party’s pocket borough without the ‘winning formula’. 

The Congress has fielded former Khanapur MLA Dr Anjali Nimbalkar. She is putting her best foot forward to overcome the ‘outsider’ tag among people of Uttara Kannada district. The gynaecologist-turned-politician is aiming at a repeat of the 1999 election results in which Margaret Alva (Congress) trumped Anantkumar. 

The constituency, which goes to the polls on May 7, sprawls across two districts, including large swathes of the Western Ghats forests, a long coastal line and patches of plains.

Haliyal, Yellapur, Karwar, Sirsi, Kumta and Bhatkal Assembly segments in Uttara Kannada, and Kittur and Khanapur segments in Belagavi district constitute the parliamentary segment. 

This is an opportunity for both the candidates — the familiar and the enthusiastic — to prove their mettle. Both had lost the previous Assembly elections and are contesting the Lok Sabha polls for the first time. 

While Kageri is seeking votes in the name of Modi and ‘soft Hindutva,’ Dr Anjali is highlighting the Congress’ guarantees and the much-awaited development projects in the region. 

People say they have sacrificed their homes, resources and livelihoods for various national projects, but elected representatives have let them down. 

“There is only one company, in which I work, in the entire industrial area of Karwar. The national projects have not helped local people in terms of livelihoods,” says Pradeep, who works in a pharmaceutical company.  

Uttara Kannada district does not have a university or a super specialty hospital either.

“We have had politicians, but not a statesman who could improve the district in terms of health, education, infrastructure and industries,” says senior journalist G U Bhat Honnavar. 

There is visible dissatisfaction over the candidature of Kageri. People identify him as humble and simple, but say he has not delivered as an MLA. “They should have given a chance to an youngster,” says Shashikala, an entrepreneur in Yellapur. 

In Yellapur, MLA Shivaram Hebbar (BJP), whose son Vivek Hebbar joined the Congress recently, has remained neutral. 

Added to this Anantkumar, whose statement about the possibility of changing the Constitution shrouded the entire election narrative, forcing the likes of Modi to repeatedly clarify on this, has gone silent.

Hebbar and Anantkumar skipped the Modi event in Sirsi on Sunday. 

“Their silence makes a huge difference,” says political analyst Sriranga Katti. 

Both Brahmin leaders have a good support base among other backward communities and the scheduled tribes. Anantkumar’s supporters are mainly from the Namdhari community (also known as Billavas or Edigas in other parts of the state), a majority community in the constituency. 

“It will be interesting to see whom the fisher communities, the Namdharis and other backward communities such as Halakki Gowdas will support in this election,” says Vasanth Devadiga, a journalist in Bhatkal. 

It is said that the consolidation of Namadhari community votes against him was a reason for the defeat of Kageri, a Havyaka Brahmin like Anantkumar, in the Sirsi Assembly segment last year. 

In this election, Marathas might vote for the Congress as Dr Nimbalkar is from the Maratha community, another dominant group here, Devadiga says. 

Some of the fisher communities are planning to boycott the elections, upset over a private port coming up near Honnavar. 

Dr Nimbalkar has been barnstorming the constituency and has gained visibility. The presence of party MLAs in five Assembly segments and the ‘neutral’ stance of the BJP MLA in Yellapur can give her an upper hand, provided the leadership manages the factions within the party. However, a challenge she faces is the popular notion that Congress is for the state and BJP for the country. 

With her vision for the constituency, will Dr Nimbalkar be able to breach the Modi wave that BJP’s Kageri is riding on? She will certainly need to watch out for this and the solid network of BJP workers.